Buyout billionaire Kim wins court fight over arrest bid
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Prosecutors sought to take Mr Michael Kim ByungJu into custody as part of a probe into his firm’s management of the beleaguered supermarket chain Homeplus.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
SEOUL - Mr Michael Kim ByungJu won a key victory after a South Korean court rejected prosecutors’ request to detain the billionaire co-founder of buyout firm MBK Partners as part of a probe into the company’s management of supermarket chain Homeplus, which entered court-led rehabilitation in 2025.
South Korean prosecutors are investigating Mr Kim and three others on charges including fraud, examining how Homeplus slid from being the nation’s second-largest retailer into financial distress and eventual rehabilitation.
The judge on Jan 14 rejected a request by prosecutors to arrest Mr Kim, 62, while they investigate MBK Partners’ handling of Homeplus, which was once one of the buyout firm’s biggest and most ambitious investments in South Korea.
The court told Bloomberg News via text message that all the requests for arrest warrants had been dismissed.
“While it is clear that the alleged harm in this case is very serious, the materials submitted to date are insufficient to establish the charges to a degree that would justify detention,” the court said.
The court also said that taking Mr Kim into custody could impact his ability to prepare his defence, saying it was necessary to allow “the suspects sufficient opportunity to mount a defence while not in custody, rather than detaining the suspects due to concerns over destruction of evidence or flight.”
The ruling brings some relief for Mr Kim, who has faced mounting pressure as the probe intensified, including a travel ban imposed in 2025. MBK Partners has strenuously denied wrongdoing.
The investigation has piled pressure on one of Asia’s most prominent private equity firms. It also heralded a new phase in South Korean authorities’ bid to better regulate the country’s private equity sector, amid mounting calls for tighter scrutiny after a series of high-profile missteps by top players, some of which have enraged local consumers.
Prosecutors have been probing whether Homeplus and MBK Partners knew the retailer was heading toward a credit downgrade when 82 billion won (S$71.6 million) of bonds backed by assets linked to Homeplus were issued in February 2025.
A significant portion of these short-term notes were bought by retail investors. But soon after the issuance, a local ratings firm downgraded the supermarket chain. And days after that, the company filed for court receivership. Distraught buyers have staged public protests, demanding accountability and compensation.
The dispute has tarnished the otherwise gilded career of the Korean-born, US-educated financier who ventured into private equity and became one of the richest people in South Korea.
After starting in investment banking, he rose to an executive director position at Goldman Sachs before becoming the Carlyle Group’s top dealmaker in the region. He helped start his eponymous firm in 2005 and has built it up to become one of Asia’s largest home-grown private equity companies.
Over two decades, the Seoul-based fund focused on North Asia expanded to amass over US$30 billion (S$38.7 billion) in capital under management, with offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo.
Mr Kim’s net worth is estimated at about US$9.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. BLOOMBERG
